


Fading Away

by TrashcanKitty



Series: The New Company of Light [20]
Category: Winx Club
Genre: AU, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, F/M, Flora POV, Hospitals, M/M, Magic, Mandragora does die, Multi, Near-death Experiences, Other, Poison, Some angst, Spoilers but not really spoilers, Tied into what happened in Chapter 28
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-02
Updated: 2020-03-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:21:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22984723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrashcanKitty/pseuds/TrashcanKitty
Summary: Taking on Mandragora wasn't going to be easy. It was going to take everything the group has learned over the years to take her on, but it was going to be worth it.Bloom deserved to have her parents back. Valkyrie deserved to be rid of the guilt she felt, even if it was only second-hand.The plan was supposed to help them make sure everyone made it back safely...Nothing ever goes to plan with this group.
Relationships: Aisha | Layla/Nabu (Winx Club), Bloom/Sky (Winx Club), Brandon/Stella (Winx Club), Flora/OC, Helia/OC, Lucy/Mirta (Winx Club), Marion/Oritel (Winx Club), Musa/Riven (Winx Club), OC/OC, Tecna/Timmy (Winx Club), others
Series: The New Company of Light [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1362700
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	Fading Away

**Fading Away**

Flora did her best to ignore the echoes of Valkyrie’s voice as they crept onto Ulmoira’s land. Hearing the soft grunts and groans of the fighting at the edge of the realm didn’t help either.

Nothing felt right about this. Something was off, she could just feel it. But she couldn’t focus on that. She had to focus on the job at hand: finding Oritel and Marion and saving them.

Her heart nearly stopped when she heard her love refer to her as a pet, to speak about her with such carelessness. (It was to gain Mandragora’s trust. She knew that. But it stung deep.)

That pain didn’t stop, she could feel it weaving into her blood. _“What if it isn’t part of the plan? What if she really feels that way about you? Your so-called romance nothing more than a joke.”_ A voice taunted her from behind.

She turned around, feeling as if she’d been punched when she saw a version of herself behind her. This version had her wings drooping, the color of her Enchantix dulled and her face blotchy from tears.

“ _It’d be a real shame… Wouldn’t it…? All of it nothing more than an elaborate lie._ ” The other her spoke, oh-so softly. “ _But why wouldn’t it be? She has no reason to keep you around. Hell, no one in your life really needs you._ ”

Flora swallowed. (This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real… Could it?)

‘ _Mandragora worked under Lysslis… These are illusions._ ’ Flora reminded herself, raising one of her hands. A thorny rose formed, and she clutched it tightly, letting the thorns dig into her skin through her glove.

The other her shrieked, disappearing into nothing.

Flora let out a sigh of relief, but found herself quickly worrying again. Her friends were on their knees, muttering softly. Some were crying, holding themselves close.

She bit her lip. “You’ll all forgive me later. I promise.” She waved her hand, watching as more briar patches grew, tangling around her friends and cutting their legs and arms.

One by one they freed themselves from the patch and the illusions, angered at first, until they remembered Ms. Griffin’s lessons. ‘ _Pain took power away from illusions. It was real and unable to be ignored._ ’

“Come on, we still have ground to cover.” Bloom let out a choked command, taking back to the air.

The rest of the Winx had fluttered their wings, ready to follow until the horde unleashed.

Swarms and swarms of bugs overtook them. Layla swore, creating a small tidal wave to force them back. “Go on without us, Bloom! We’ve got this!”

“We’re not afraid of some dumb bugs.” Musa clapped her hands loudly, sonic waves forcing back a few more insects.

Bloom gave a nod. “Be careful girls.” She spoke, flying away. (Away to her parents.)

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fighting wasn’t her strong suit. Sure, she didn’t mind it, and yes, she was adept enough to have survived the past few years… But it still wasn’t something she enjoyed.

(Aside from a few ‘sparring matches’ with Valkyrie… But those were a different story…)

Of course, it didn’t mean she didn’t occasionally get satisfied with throwing an enemy off their game. Especially when that enemy had tried to pin _her_ girlfriend down. “Nice save.” Valkyrie praised, her hand taking Flora’s.

Always so warm. Calloused. Rough from years of fighting and carrying flames. (A perfect fit.)

Flora couldn’t help but giggle, feeling herself soften. “Anytime.” She felt Valkyrie move closer, whispering into her ear.

A proposal for convergence… Always a fun concept.

She let her magic go, urging it to do as it felt it needed to do. An undercurrent of warmth flooded into her system, warming her at her very core.

Flora was in a fire pit, and yet the flames only warmed her, never burning or harming her. A safe and protective environment, even her plants began to grow and thread themselves into the flames.

The Dark Dragon formed out of the fire, coiling around her and Valkyrie as he took his form, an armor of thorns of and blossoms (ShadowHaunt Swallowtails, lethal if the pollen was inhaled) encompassed him as he charged the insect witch, causing her to burn and burn with a shriek.

After that, it seemed the battle became a blur, all up until Valkyrie forced her into the ground, protecting her from a spell Mandragora had cast. (Summoning. She’d summoned more of her minions, and a few stingers…)

Valkyrie was pulled away, but she’d burned Mandragora directly, getting herself free. Flora rushed to her side, helping the witch to her feet.

Warm. Valkyrie was warm. Too warm.

She didn’t seem to be able to focus, and Flora felt her worry build up.

And it kept building, becoming full on fear when the witch passed out and her covenmantes began to act sick.

“We need to get to them to the medbay! Now.” Flora found herself yelling out, scooping up the witch. Small, frail. (Nothing that should ever be used to describe Valkyrie…)

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flora stayed at her side, watching as Valkyrie seemed to be fighting to breathe, a wet cloth literally sizzling on her head (it had been chilled just moments ago, courtesy of Layla).

Lucy and Crystal weren’t fairing much better, both witches paler than normal and warm to the touch. (And complaining of a sharp shooting pain. All consistent with a poison.)

Kota and Mirta kept wet cloths on their foreheads, an attempt to keep the fevers down.

“Why aren’t the other witches sick too?” Chatta asked, breaking through Flora’s thoughts. The pixie had flown into the medbay, taking a seat by Flora. “I mean… Isn’t it weird?”

“It’s because they’re in a coven together.” Mirta spoke up. “When one feels… Sick… The others tend to get a few side effects.”

“But it’ll pass. They’ll get better… The question is whether Valkyrie’s going to get better.” Kota spoke, immediately swearing at himself. “I shouldn’t have said it like that… What I meant to say is-”

Flora waved her hand. “Don’t worry about it, Kota. We know.” She looked to Chatta, trying to force a smile. “What’s going on in the bridge? Or on the other ship?”

She needed a distraction. Something. Anything.

“Bloom’s doing her best to catch King Oritel and Queen Marion up to speed… They did miss an awful lot.” Chatta hummed. “And Daphne’s gonna be meeting us in Gloomy Wood. I don’t know why we don’t just head straight for the hospital, seems easier, but apparently there’s something about ship type limits…”

The pixie rambled more about the rest of the group. How tired everyone seemed. How thrilled everyone was with meeting Marion and Oritel. How happy Bloom seems. That Morgan had given the unspeakable call to Ms. Griffin…

And that they’d be able to save Valkyrie soon. (She hoped. She prayed.)

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hospitals sucked.

They were too clean, too white, too spacious… (Too much.)

She found herself sitting in one of their too-hard-to-be-comfortable chairs, Cheshire purring softly in her lap. The cat wasn’t into it, his gaze looking toward the door to the medical wing.

Ms-no, just Griffin right now, had sent her out of the room, told her to take a break. She and Salvador had much to discuss with the doctors anyway…

Morgan sat with her in the waiting room, Helia at her side. Both were just as worried about Valkyrie, if not more so. (They had known her longer. Had been there longer.)

Kota and Mirta were waiting in a different area with Patches and Crystal and Lucy’s families. The two witches were getting better, but due to their connection to Valkyrie, they were still feeling sickly.

The Winx and other specialists had come in ever so often, checking on their favorite trio of witches. (Stella had even created Solarian Get-Well Cards imbued with the healing moonlight from Solaria’s moon.)

Flora’s family had called, worried for her. (And for Valkyrie.) Her mother had even spoken with Griffin, their tones hushed. It helped the older witch though, she could tell her mother had calmed Griffin some.

(She’d been partially raging against the doctors, fighting for her daughter in much the same way magiwolves fought for their cubs.)

The only good thing in all of this was Domino. With Marion, Oritel, and Daphne returning, they broke the curse Lysslis had placed on the realm, freeing the citizens.

According to Bloom, and to MagiNews Channel 7, Domino was playing catch up before officially opening themselves back up to the Magical Dimension.

(Though there was a brief moment in which the royal family of Domino had been at the hospital, completely in awe that ‘the daughter of Valtor’ had saved them. It’d made Flora glower, but she bit her tongue. They’d learn soon enough that Valkyrie was far more than _his_ child. One day.)

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You should head back to Alfea, you don’t want to get behind.” Griffin’s voice cut through her thoughts, her hand on Flora’s shoulder.

Calm, but with a waver of concern. Flora shook her head, glancing to her backpack and Morgan’s sleeping form clutching her own bag. (Musa had brought it to her during her last visit, just as she’d brought Morgan’s.)

“Faragonda’s allowing us to work from the hospital… She understands our need to be here.” She bit her lip, worrying it a tad with her teeth. “She’ll be here tomorrow… To see you.”

Griffin let out a groan, shaking her head. Cheshire jumped from Flora’s lap to hers, the witch scratching his head without a second thought. “She’s always been that way. Too soft-hearted for her own good.” A bemused smile found its way to her lips. “Fara’s always been the better friend.”

Flora nudged the older witch with her shoulder, playful. “You’re a much better person than you give yourself credit for being. How else would you have had such an incredible daughter?” Griffin chuckled.

“Dumb luck? Pure chance?” She gestured over to Morgan. “A good family to fall back on. I give them hell, but Palladium and Salvador have been lifesavers. Morgan too.”

Flora smiled. “I can see that.” Relax. She had to relax. “Has there been any change?”

“Not yet… But we’re getting there. Dr. Rainer said most of it’s been filtered out now. It’s just a matter of her magic reconnecting to her core.” Griffin’s fingers tapped along Cheshire’s spine, the tuxedo cat purring and trying to ease her worries.

“So it’s touch and go?”

“For now.” She took a deep breath, eyes closing. “I’ll never understand why she’s so insistent on throwing herself into danger’s way.”

“Because she takes after you, Aunt Griffin.” A groggy-voiced Morgan teased, raising up and stretching from her nap. “You know that.” Flora giggled, pushing her hair back.

“She may have a point.”

Griffin rolled her eyes, exasperated. “Just for that? You’re both being banished to Alfea. I don’t need your support.” She taunted. Morgan laughed.

“As if we’d leave you alone with the doctors. Poor things wouldn’t survive the night.”

“You do have a bad habit of threatening to curse them.” Flora agreed, mischief flickering into her being.

Griffin feigned hurt, her hand clutching to her necklace. “And to think you were my favorite, Flora. I see I was wrong.”

Flora and Morgan snickered. “That’s what you get for having favorites.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Flora… Get up. Val’s awake.” Morgan whispered, her voice excited.

Flora’s eyes opened, her legs moving to get herself up. Valkyrie was alive, she was alive and nothing else mattered. Not even sleep.


End file.
